romanticism 1800-1860. characteristics of romanticism contemplating nature’s beauty is the path to...
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Characteristics of Romanticism• Contemplating
nature’s beauty is the path to spiritual and moral development.
• Values feeling and intuition over reason
• Looks backward to the wisdom of the past, shuns progress
The Age of Reason or The Enlightenment
Founded on:• Deism• Logic• Observation as
means of obtaining Truth
• Inalienable rights
Contributed to: • Industrialization:
Growth of cities & factories
• Mobility and breakup of families and communities
• American expansion – (Lewis and Clark
and Manifest Destiny)
• More encounters with Native Americans
Albert Bierstadt
Romanticism: Reaction To The Age of Reason
Realism Idealism/UtopiaPatrician Classicism
Glorification of the common man
Dominion over the Native American
Recognition of the nobility of the primitive
Reliance on reason for truth
Credibility of intuition and reflection
Age of Reason Romanticism
Logic: Always facts to counter fear and doubt
Imagination to engender faith and hope
Man’s dominion over Nature: Manifest Destiny; bring to serve mankind
Man’s interdependence upon Nature: Generative, antidote; mystical unknown
Deism: De-emphasize organized religion
Transcendentalism: God always available-Over-Soul
Age of Reason Romanticism
The City was a Place of . . .
Industrial Revolution Success Self-realizationCivilization
Poor Work Conditions Moral Ambiguity CorruptionDeath
Age of Reason Romanticism
Romanticism: Often Seen As A Journey
--The journey from the city to the country
--The journey from rational thought to the imagination
The Fireside Poets
*John Greenleaf Whittier, William Cullen Bryant, James Lowell, Oliver Wendell
Holmes•Their poems were often read aloud at the fireside as family entertainment.
The Most Popular American Poets of Their Time
•It is poetry that seeks a higher truth from the natural world.
• Folktales - varied from region to region. Washington Irving was very popular.
Literature
•The “Noble Savage” was promoted through works such as James Fennimore Cooper’s The Last of the Mohicans.
•American Novelists looked to westward expansion and the frontier for inspiration.
The Transcendentalists(Continued)
• Optimistic view of the world
• The natural world is a doorway to the spiritual or ideal world
• Self-Reliance – Rely on your own thought– Seek not to follow others
Transcendentalists Beckon Us To Transcendentalists Beckon Us To Leave BehindLeave Behind
The The Hurried Hurried & & Technological Technological WorldWorld
*To venture forth to the natural world
*To find our inner peace
*To reconnect with all mankind & Nature
*Use intuition to find truth and connect with the spiritual realm
The Anti-The Anti-TranscendentalTranscendental
ists ists • Works of Hawthorne, Melville & Poe:– Acknowledged existence of sin– Pain & evil in human life – Formed counterpoints to the
optimism of the transcendentalists
– Regarded as “the dark side” in the eyes of Transcendentalists who use “the force”
The Force vs.
The Dark Side Transcendentalists Idealists/IndividualistIntuitionEverything is a reflection of the divine soulNature is good; even Man is goodMan & Nature in partnershipEmbraces science as part of nature
Anti-Anti-TranscendentaTranscendentalistslists RealistsExperienceSpirituality based on Puritanism/CalvinismNature is indifferent; Man is evilMan’s dark sideSuspicious of science and technology